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December 26, 2012

BED

Binge
eating disorder (BED)

People
with binge eating disorder (BED) binge pretty much like people with bulimia.
And they feel just as bad afterward. But they aren’t driven toward purging
behaviors. More likely, they become engaged in cycling between periods of
bingeing and periods of rigid dieting. For some, this keeps their weight in a normal
range. Other people with BED gain weight and may even become obese.

Estimates
are that anywhere from 3 to 8 in 100 people in the United States have BED.
According to a 1998 survey in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, as many as 40
percent of the people with BED are men.

The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV),
published by the American Psychiatric Association, provides the guidelines used
by mental health professionals and insurance companies to diagnose various
psychological disorders.

For
those of you who are interested in where binge eating disorder stands as an
official diagnosis, DSM-IV currently stashes BED in a category of eating disorders
called “not otherwise specified,” while the people who decide these things are
working on whether to give it equal status with anorexia and bulimia (the most
likely outcome). The following list paraphrases how the DSM-IV defines binge
eating disorder:

Bingeing:
Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized
by both of the following:

• Eating, in a discrete period of
time (for example, within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is
definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under
similar circumstances

• A sense of lack of control over
your eating during the episode (for example, a feeling that you can’t stop
eating or control what or how much you’re eating)

Typical
aspects of a binge episode: The binge eating episodes are associated with three
or more of the following:

• Eating much more rapidly than
normal

• Eating until you feel
uncomfortably full

• Eating large amounts of food when
you’re not feeling physically hungry

• Eating alone because you’re
embarrassed by how much you’re eating

• Feeling disgusted with yourself,
depressed, or very guilty after overeating

Frequency:
The binge eating occurs, on average, at least 2 days per week for 6 months.
(Note: Current research shows there’s no difference between once-weekly bingers
and those who meet this twice-weekly standard.)

The
bingeing isn’t part of anorexia or bulimia: The binge eating is not associated
with the regular use of inappropriate compensatory behaviors (for example,
purging, fasting, or excessive exercise) and does not occur exclusively during
the course of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.